Digest: Katie Ledecky named nation's top female college athlete

Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky breaks the American record in the 500-yard freestyle at the Pac-12 Championships in February 2017.

Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky breaks the American record in the 500-yard freestyle at the Pac-12 Championships in February 2017.

From Sun staff and news services

Stanford swimmer Katie Ledecky won the Honda Cup on Monday night as the nation's top college female athlete.

Ledecky, a Bethesda native, won five medals, including four golds, and set two world records at last summer's Rio de Janeiro Olympics. She capped an impressive freshman season at Stanford with five national titles at the NCAA championships. She became the first NCAA swimmer in 29 years to win individual titles in the 200, 500 and 1,650-yard freestyles, and was a member of Stanford's American record-setting 400 and 800 free relays.

In her first month as a college swimmer, Ledecky has already set NCAA marks in the 500-, 1000- and 1,650-yard freestyles. Her record swim of...

Ledecky is just the second freshman to win the Honda Cup. She didn't attend the ceremony on Monday night at the University of Southern California because she is preparing to compete in the U.S. national championships in Indianapolis. Ledecky beat out finalists Kelsey Plum, who starred in basketball at Washington, and Georgia track and field athlete Kendell Williams. The top three were selected in voting by nearly 1,000 NCAA member schools.

The Honda Cup winner was chosen by the board of directors of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program. Maryland women's lacrosse player Zoe Stukenberg (Marriotts Ridge) was one of the original 12 finalists.

Stanford's Nicole Stafford received the Honda Inspiration award, track and field athlete Carly Muscaro of Merrimack earned the Division II Athlete of the Year, and soccer player Lizzy Crist of Washington University won the Division III Athlete of the Year.

The Maryland men’s basketball team will face host Syracuse in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on Nov. 27, the conferences announced Monday.

The Monday game falls on the first of four nights of the annual showdown. Tipoff time and broadcast information have yet to be released. ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will...

The Maryland men's basketball team will face Syracuse on the road in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on Nov. 27, the conferences announced Monday. The game falls on the first of four days of the annual showdown. Tipoff time and broadcast information have yet to be released. ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise all 14 games. The Terps are winless in their past four ACC-Big Ten Challenge games, last defeating Northwestern in 2012. They have not faced the Orange since Feb. 24, 2014, when they fell, 57-55, during an Atlantic Coast Conference game in College Park.

The Washington Capitals' 2017-18 season opener is just a little more than three months away, marking the fourth year of the organization's chapter with both general manager Brian MacLellan and coach Barry Trotz. For Trotz, a fourth season is also the last one covered by his contract, and at least at this point, MacLellan has said an extension hasn't been discussed. When MacLellan was asked about an extension for Trotz this past weekend at the NHL draft in Chicago, MacLellan said, "We're trying to get through the draft." When asked whether it would come up later in the summer, MacLellan said "maybe it could. We'll see." Meanwhile, associate coach Todd Reirden has two seasons remaining on his deal after he was promoted a year ago, and MacLellan did not give other teams permission to interview Reirden for head coaching vacancies this summer, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Washington Post. The Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers had openings, and Reirden had a connection to new Sabres general manager Jason Botterill from their time working together with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Reirden was a finalist for the Calgary Flames' head coaching vacancy last summer, and after Glen Gulutzan got that job, Washington promoted Reirden to associate coach and gave him a three-year contract.

—Isabelle Khurshudyan, The Washington Post

More Capitals: Monday's 5 p.m. deadline for teams to qualify their restricted free agents passed with one surprise from the Capitals. MacLellan said Friday at the draft in Chicago that the team intends to re-sign its five main RFAs that were on the NHL roster last season, and as expected, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, Andre Burakovsky and Philipp Grubauerall received qualifying offers. The notable exception was winger Brett Connolly, who scored 15 goals and added eight assists in his first season with the Capitals last year. Though Connolly wasn't qualified, the Capitals are still negotiating with him, and he's expected to re-sign. If the two sides don't reach a deal by July 1, then he'll become an unrestricted free agent. The Capitals also qualified forwards Chandler Stephenson, Travis Boyd and Liam O'Brien, all of whom spent the majority of last season in the American Hockey League. While Stephenson and O'Brien both appeared in the Capitals' lineup last season, Boyd has yet to make his NHL debut. They're expected to contend for depth roles with Washington next season.

—Isabelle Khurshudyan, The Washington Post

Men's college basketball: Nearly three months after he was introduced as Georgetown's new coach, Patrick Ewing has a staff of assistants and recruiters: Louis Orr, Robert Kirby and Akbar Waheed. The school announced Ewing's choices on Monday. Orr was the head coach at Bowling Green from 2007-14, at Seton Hall from 2001-06 and at Siena in 2000-01. He and Ewing were NBA teammates with the New York Knicks. Kirby returns to Georgetown, where he worked for John Thompson III from 2010-12. He was at LSU last season and has more than 30 years of experience as an assistant in Division I. Waheed was kept on Georgetown's staff by Ewing after originally arriving as an assistant under Thompson last year. Thompson was fired in March after 13 seasons, one Final Four appearance and just one trip the NCAA tournament in the past four years.

Men's college lacrosse: Salisbury senior attackman Nathan Blondino was named Division III Offensive Player of the Year and junior defenseman Kyle Tucker Defensive Player of the Year by the Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association. In addition to Blondino and Tucker, Sea Gulls junior defenseman Will Nowesnick and Stevenson senior midfielder Kyle D'Onofrio (Fallston) were named first-team All-Americans. Salisbury senior midfielder Brendan Bromwell and senior long-stick midfielder Andrew Ternahan and Stevenson junior defensman Dominic DeFazio received second-team honors. Salisbury also received the Coaching Staff of the Year award.

College baseball: Maryland left-hander Tyler Blohm (Archbishop Spalding) was named a second-team Baseball America Freshman All-American. Blohm, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, finished the season with eight wins, tied for third all-time in a single season in Maryland history and best among freshmen in the Big Ten. He had a 3.48 ERA with 71 strikeouts and 35 walks in 75 innings.